Hot Chocolate & Gingerbread Latte
by katdvs
Summary: Maya gets a hot chocolate, and Josh teases her about it.


_**Author Note: Okay a little blocked on my multi-chapter (I know what I want to write, what I need to write but dang it, it just won't come out of my fingertips), so here is some Joshaya fluff instead!**_

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 **Hot Chocolate & Gingerbread Latte**

"One hot chocolate please" Maya ordered the drink as she took in the decorations around the bakery, her mother and Topanga had gone a bit overboard this year, it was like each year it got to be more.

"That's what you order?" His voice still after all this time sent a wave of excitement through her.

Slowly she turned around her lips in a tight smile, "You have a problem with my order?"

He smirked as a hand adjusted the beanie he wore as he studied her, trying to remind himself that she was Riley's best friend, and they had tried to be something and it hadn't worked. "Just a little childish, don't you think?"

Maya felt the flair of anger rise in her, "And what do you have in that mug?"

Josh took a sip, "Mm, Gingerbread Latte, the best in the city."

She rolled her eyes as she was handed her hot chocolate from the girl behind the counter and found herself sitting next to Josh on the couch, "So how's what's her face, Olivia?"

"We broke up" Josh left out the part that Olivia accused him of still having feelings for Maya, maybe she was right with the way his heart was speeding up at the moment, or maybe it was just his latte.

"That's a shame." Maya couldn't hide the smirk as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, or the sigh of content that escaped.

Josh turned to her, resting one arm against the back of the couch as he watched her, trying to ignore the way the Christmas lights reflected in her hair. "What about you and who was it Dave, Charlie, Wyatt?"

"I was dating Dave, and it's over. He got offered a job at one of the major Corn Chip companies in the southwest and left." Maya shrugged, Dave had been fun, but he didn't send a wave of excitement through her body, her toes hadn't curled from just the right look, her heart didn't pick up quickly being close to him the way it was right now as Josh looked to her.

Josh took another sip of his latte trying to hide the smile. Shit. He was screwed. "So hot chocolate, why?"

"Why not" Maya was sure she'd seen him smile, had she imagined that? " _Screw you hipsters and your holiday coffee, I'm having hot chocolate like any sane person_."

Josh feigned shock, "Oh come on Maya I'm sane."

"Are you?" They had moved closer to each other, how had that happened?

"Yeah, I am." He couldn't help but smile as he placed his mug on the table, "Are you?"

Maya put her hot chocolate down, trying to ignore the energy between them, this wasn't real it had died between them—hadn't it? "Do you have a test in mind?"

"Maybe" he had gotten last in those blue eyes a million times before, he still got lost in them in his dreams…that's what this had to be right, a dream.

Maya felt his hand push her hair back and cradle her face, her breath caught and her body began to melt into the moment before his lips pressed against hers.

Josh could taste the sweet chocolate on her lips and tongue as she accepted the kiss, drawing him in deeper. He had missed this, her, everything about this connection.

Why had he let her go?

Because he wanted her to come back to him.

He needed to know he was the one she really wanted.

That he wasn't just some childish fantasy.

That this was real.

God it was real, at least for him.

Alive, that was the only way to describe this as his hungry lips explored hers. Maya felt her heart race and swell she'd missed this, needed this, him.

Why had she let him push her away?

Because she needed to fly, to grow, to come back for this moment.

"Huh, maybe I'm not so sane after all." Maya pulled away, "What sane woman lets her ex kiss her like that."

Josh didn't let her pull too far away, "A woman who knows that she had to be an ex, so that she could be the one."

She blinked, "The one?"

"Yeah, don't you feel it?"

"I do, I just didn't know that you did."

"I do," His fingers caressed her hair, "I just needed to let you go so that you would really know."

Maya smiled, "I came in for a hot chocolate, but I got something so much better, I got you."

Josh kissed her again, slowly this time, knowing they had time now; they would have all the time in the world now. "I love you Maya Penelope Hart."

"And I love you Joshua Gabriel Matthews." She rested her forehead against his; never had she imagined she would get her most secret Christmas wish.


End file.
